As everyone knows, the country is going through a revolution and crying out for racial justice and equality. Through these times, many students across the country have been exposed for using racial slurs, committing racist acts, and have been facing consequences from their schools, both high schools and colleges. Incoming freshman at Missouri State have been exposed for using racial slurs. And the University's response was not only disappointing but fosters racism.
On Tuesday, June 2nd, Missouri State released a statement responding to what would have happened to the students involved. The University states that the students chose to withdraw, but if they had not, they would not have lost their admission. The University continues to say that although they condemn racism, they also support first amendment rights. "As a public university, we are legally required to uphold the principles of free speech embodied in the First Amendment[...]." The video in question is a student mocking the death of George Floyd. She uses her knee on the neck of her friend while they both laugh with the caption "Aw ging can't breathe." (Missouri State responds to students 'racially charged' social media posts, Springfield News-Leader, Claudette Riley, June 1, 2020). Students in the video who had planned on attending the University of Missouri and Northwest have lost their admission. There was also an incident involving "a racial slur and racially charged insensitive language" (Claudette Riley).
The University states that as a public university, they could not take away admission, however as many know they are absolutely legally allowed to. According to Catherine Gewertz's, writer for Education Week, article "Yes, Colleges can Rescind Admission Offers. Here's What Educators Need to Know", from June 19, 2019, colleges have the right to "withdraw offers of admission if they learn of behavior that calls into question the student's integrity or character". Although these actions and words were not against the First Amendment, as a place that students are supposed to spend their next four years, should they not feel safe on campus? How safe can I feel on a campus that is protecting white feelings more than they are protecting BIPOC safety?
The University states that the students are "in desperate need of education, training and experiences that will help us develop cultural consciousness as well as cultural competence." But how is someone mocking the death of a man brutally murdered in broad daylight formed by a lack of education, training and experience? That is formed by a lack of empathy and clear, cold cut racism. How many things do you think these students did that we don't have on camera?
The University stated that they would be offering cultural training to these students, but shouldn't we all be receiving cultural competence training? Just the same as we all receive sexual assault awareness training, we should all be receiving cultural competence training. Even sexual assault awareness training, every semester, is not as effective as it needs to be. "'We have no evidence that traditional sexual harassment training or compliance training does anything at all, but despite the fact that we don't think it works, state legislators and corporations are creating policies that mandate it,' (Fran) Sepler said. 'That's like mandating that you eat a strawberry every day so that sexual harassment will stop— there's no evidence it will make one ounce of difference.'" If sexual assault training barely works, why would this cultural competency training work? Training alone will not help, the University needs to take steps in all lanes to fix the issue, including real consequences, diverse staff, POC protection and so much more. And for students who used racist slurs, why are they not facing real consequences?
This lack of consequences is giving other students on campus a reason to be openly racist. A sophomore on campus posted a blank white picture with the caption "#whiteoutwednesday"(shown below), in order to mock the #blackouttuesday social media protest.
As a non-black POC, this makes me and many others feel like we are going to be entering a campus that doesn't care about our safety and needs more than they care about white fragility. By allowing these students to stay on campus with only training and no real consequences, Missouri State is sending out the message that although they "condemn racism", they will not be taking action against it. So I am calling on President Smart, as well as staff and faculty, to take real meaningful action. This includes showing support for Congress to pass H.R. 40- Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act (https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/40), which would create a commission to study the lasting impact of slavery and discrimination in order to find appropriate remedies. I am calling upon Missouri State to use their platform to not just condemn racism but show active support for the Black Lives Matter movement because this is not about politics, this is about human rights.
